Monday, December 31, 2012

Nineteen/Charleston/Mescaline

Original Facebook post here.Today's formative album replay: Seductive Reasoning by Maggie and Terre Roche. I'm so glad I sought out this obscure gem in the late '80s when someone (I don't recall who) tipped me that the Roches had a "prequel"--that deep-voiced songsmith Maggie and white-soul soprano Terre had made a secret masterpiece with Paul Simon producing and the Muscle Shoals rhythm section backing in the years before spark-plug Suzzy joined the band and rounded out the brilliant folk/novelty trio the world would later come to know.

This 1975 record is short, bittersweet, and meticulously produced--I might say over-produced if the cross-genre ambitions and compositional range of this duo (with Maggie doing pretty much all the writing and Terre the lion's share of the lead singing) didn't have ample room for all the layers and textures, including even backup vocals by the Oak Ridge Boys. Maggie's precocious, country-inflected songs are full of humor and heartbreak, along with a lot more Joni-style piano than ever made it onto later Roches records, for an effect that evokes a weirder, wackier McGarrigle Sisters.

The searing coming-of-age song "West Virginia" is a particular favorite--it's just waiting for a young cabaret-popster like Regina Spektor or Madeleine Peyroux to rescue it from obscurity with a well-timed cover.

Mary Kate Karr PetrasThanks
for the review. I've had this (on vinyl) since the 80s, partly because
of the Roches, partly because of the Paul Simon connection. I didn't
give it many listens, perhaps because I missed that 3rd voice, or maybe
because of the production you mentioned. I'll have to fire up the
turntable and give it another spin.

Rob Weinert-KendtMary
Kate: Start with "West Virginia" (heartrending) and "The Mountain
People" (wryly funny). It's a loopy but rewarding collection, and those
are two good entry points.